The following are the most recent fatal sinkings of commercial vessels that were based out of Provincetown.

Oct. 24, 1976: The 65-foot scalloper, the Patricia Marie of Provincetown, went down with seven crew members after it disappeared three miles off Nauset Beach in Eastham. The dead included: Capt. William King, 46; Walter Marshall, 55; Morris Joseph, 47, and his 19-year-old son, Alton; Ernest Cordeiro, 45; Robert Zawalick, 25; and Richard Oldenquist, 35, all from Provincetown.

Feb. 13, 1978: The dragger Cap'n Bill of Provincetown sank with four crew members lost. The men were Capt. Ralph Andrews, 56; Edward Hoernig, 21; Ernie Tasha, 22; and Robert Sullivan, 30, all from Provincetown. The boat went down 2½ miles off Highland Light in Truro.

May 3, 1984: The 56-foot Victory II out of Provincetown was found in 30 feet of water near Billingsgate Shoal. It is believed the boat sank after it snagged an abandoned concrete sinker and chain. Three men were lost: Capt. Kenneth R. Macara II, 28; Ben Fernandez, 33; and John "J.D." Dorff, 36, all of Provincetown.

Nov. 18, 2012: The fishing vessel Twin Lights capsized about two miles off Race Point. Missing and presumed drowned is Capt. Jean Frottier, 69, of Wellfleet. One crewman, Eric Rego, was rescued. The 40-foot Twin Lights was built in 1985.

Source: Cape Cod Times archives

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Editor's Note: Because of a reporting error, this story contained an incorrect name. The chairwoman of a committee to erect a permanent fishermen's memorial in Provincetown is Carol Peters.

PROVINCETOWN — The loss of commercial fishing vessels at sea and the death of crew members continue to touch family members and friends in this outermost Cape town decades later.

The Provincetown fishing fleet has had its share of tragedy in the last half-century. In 1976, seven men died on the Patricia Marie, four died on the Cap'n Bill in 1978 and three on the Victory II in 1984.

On Sunday, the Twin Lights scallop boat sank two miles north of Race Point, and skipper Jean Frottier, 69, of Wellfleet is believed to have lost his life in the accident. Crew member Eric Rego was rescued by a nearby dragger.

"You wake up, and your life is forever changed," said Provincetown resident Joan Cordeiro, whose husband, Ernest, died on the Patricia Marie. "They're gone, and you keep thinking that they're going to find them. It is "it's heartbreaking."

Before noon on Sunday, the 40-foot Twin Lights capsized during what was believed to be Frottier's attempt to untangle his dredge from fishing lines in an area known for plentiful scallops and lobsters. The vessel was found by sidescan sonar in 198-feet of water Monday. As of Friday, though, Frottier had not been found, according to the Coast Guard. State police divers and the Coast Guard plan in the coming days to use a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, to inspect the Twin Lights and look for Frottier.

Frottier's family was not ready Friday to speak publicly about the incident, according to a woman who answered the door at the home on Gross Hill Road in Wellfleet.

The Coast Guard opened an investigation as part of a routine inquiry, and the results are not expected for several months.

"I feel for the family tremendously," Cordeiro said.

Many others do, as well, particularly given the tough working conditions at sea.

In Massachusetts, four fishermen lost their lives at work in 2011, which gives the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry the highest occupational fatality rate in the state per 100,000 workers, according to the state Department of Public Health's Occupational Health Surveillance Program. Two of the fishermen fell from piers while trying to board their vessels, and two drowned at sea.

"It's such a tragic loss," said Carol Peters of Provincetown, speaking generally about the loss of life and boats in the commercial fishing industry.

Peters has formed a committee to raise money for a permanent memorial in Provincetown for commercial fishermen who have lost their lives, or their boats or crew members. Peter's late father worked on commercial fishing boats and survived the sinking of his own boat off Long Point during a storm.

"They do put their lives on the line, and I do think they should be remembered," Peters said. "Everybody knows how tough it is."

Marshfield charter boat captain Kevin Scola, who fished commercially off Provincetown throughout the 1970s, '80s and '90s, said Friday that the dangers of the industry are a combination of self-induced risks and those taken on by fishermen trying to make a living under new government regulations.

"I've had those days," Scola said of rough trips at sea. "I was just lucky to come home."

The years from 1976 to 1985 were particularly tough ones for the Provincetown fleet.

The Patricia Marie was the biggest loss, on Oct. 24, 1976. The bodies of five men were found, and two were not, Cordeiro said. At the time, she and her husband had two kids, and Ernest Cordeiro had told his wife in the days before the sinking that the scallop fishing trips might be his last because the boat wasn't properly equipped for the loads it was carrying.

"He turned around and gave his daughter his skiff and his son his Jeep, and then sure enough "»," Joan Cordeiro said. "They knew the boat wasn't right, that it would roll."

The boat's captain, William King, 46, died, as did Walter Marshall, 55; Morris Joseph, 47, and his 19-year-old son, Alton; Robert Zawalick, 25; and Richard Oldenquist, 35, all of Provincetown. The 64-foot scallop boat disappeared three miles off Nauset Beach in Eastham as it returned from a rich bed of scallops in an area known as Pollock Rip. The boat was found in 135 feet of water in an upright position, and Ernest Cordeiro was found three months later when a dragger caught his body in a net.

In February 1978, Capt. Ralph Andrews, 56, and three crew members, all from Provincetown, died when the dragger Cap'n Bill sank 2.8 miles off Highland Light in North Truro. The crew members were Edward Hoernig, 21; Ernie Tasha, 22; and Robert Sullivan, 30. The 63-foot dragger was reported missing Feb. 12 after failing to return after four days at sea. The sunken vessel was found Feb. 19 when the Provincetown dragger Jimmy Boy snagged the Cap'n Bill wreck in 137 feet of water. Divers sent down to the wreck the next day found no bodies. No trace of the crew was found until February 1980, when a femur netted by the dragger Triumph out of Provincetown proved to belong to Andrews.

On May 3, 1984, the dragger Victory II was found sunken in 30 feet of water off Billingsgate Shoal, when a Wellfleet fishing vessel snagged its nets on the submerged 56-foot boat. It had last been seen May 1, 1984.

The three crew members, all of Provincetown, who died in the incident were Capt. Kenneth Macara II, 28; Ben Fernandez, 33; and John "J.D." Dorff, believed to be 36. The boat's nets, which were being dragged along the side, became entangled in a chain attached to an abandoned concrete sinker on the ocean floor, according to the 1985 Coast Guard report. The crew was hauling in the nets and had pulled up the chain to within about 10 feet of the boat, the report said, but what happened next is unclear, although it is believed the boat rolled on its side and sank. The partial skeletal remains of Macara were caught in the net of a dragger near Billingsgate Shoal in 1985.